Petunia hybrida/Petunia Plant
cv. xe2x80x98Sunlapurxe2x80x99.
The Petunia is a very popular plant that is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer season. There are only a few Petunia varieties which do not have an upright growth habit and which have a high resistance to rain, heat, cold, and diseases. The Petunias of the Revolution series include xe2x80x98Revolution Purplepinkxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,915), xe2x80x98Revolution Brilliantpinkxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,914), xe2x80x98Revolution Brilliantpink-minixe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,899), and xe2x80x98Revolution Blueveinxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,322). These are decumbent type plants having long stems, a lower plant height, abundant branching, and a high resistance to heat, cold and rain. However, there are only a few Petunia varieties having a great profusion of flowers, large vivid reddish-purple colored flowers, and a high resistance to rain, heat, cold and diseases. Accordingly, this invention was aimed at obtaining a new Petunia variety having a vivid reddish-purple colored flowers, together with the above features.
The new variety of Petunia plant according to this invention originated in April 1995 from crossing as male parent a wild-type Petunia plant native to Brazil (non-patented in the United States) which had decumbent habit, and as a female parent the cultivar xe2x80x98Titan Redxe2x80x99 (non-patented in the United States). From that crossing, 384 seedlings were obtained and evaluated in July 1995. A trial involving potted plants was carried out and 15 seedlings were selected. These 15 seedlings were propagated by the use of cuttings and were grown in a trial in flower beds and in containers. The botanical characteristics of these plants were examined using the similar varieties xe2x80x98Revolution Brilliantpinkxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98Revolution Brilliantpink-minixe2x80x99 for comparison. Finally, a single Petunia plant was selected in December 1996. It was concluded that this new variety is distinguishable from other varieties especially with respect to flower size, and this variety of Petunia plant was named xe2x80x98Sunlapurxe2x80x99.
This new variety of Petunia plant named xe2x80x98Sunlapurxe2x80x99 was asexually reproduced by the use of cuttings at Oomori-cho, Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan, and the homogeneity and stability thereof were confirmed. It commonly takes approximately one week to initiate the rooting of cuttings of the new variety of the present invention.
In the following description, the color identification is in accordance with The R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England.
Described herein is a decumbent type Petunia plant named xe2x80x98Sunlapurxe2x80x99 having very large vivid reddish-purple flowers. The plant has abundant branching, a great profusion of blooms, and the entire plant remains in bloom for a considerable period of time. The plant is highly resistant to rain, heat, cold and disease. This new variety of Petunia plant is suitable for growing in pots, hanging baskets, and flower beds.
The plants described and depicted herein were propagated by the use of cuttings. Following rooting the plants were transplanted into small pots in a greenhouse, and were subsequently transplanted into larger pots and were grown outside. Such plants were approximately 12 weeks of age from the time of the rooting of cuttings.